Scottish Executive

Autism

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the Social Work Statistics Branch Audit of Services for People with Autistic Spectrum Disorder which found that over 3,400 children have been identified as having autistic spectrum disorder and given that the condition was previously significantly less prevalent, what action is being taken to introduce medical treatments as part of the alleviation of the condition.

Rhona Brankin: Information from this baseline study indicated that over 3,400 children and young people were identified as having been diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. The figures provided produce a prevalence rate of 35 children per 10,000, which is less than the estimated prevalence rate of 60 per 10,000 in the Public Health Institute of Scotland’s Autistic Spectrum Disorders Needs Assessment Report .

  Officials are working with members of the Cross Party Group on Autistic Spectrum Disorders on plans for a conference to consider a range of medical interventions for people on the autistic spectrum.

Central Heating Programme

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will extend the conditions for a grant under its central heating programme to enable Eaga Partnership Ltd to authorise the installation of underfloor central heating, if this is considered to be the only viable option.

Malcolm Chisholm: I am not aware of any cases where underfloor heating has been described as the only viable option. There are no plans at present to include underfloor heating as part of the options available under the programme.

Dentistry

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dental patients have been deregistered in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area.

Rhona Brankin: The information is provided in the following table, which show all NHS patients whose registration status indicated "withdrawn".

  Number of NHS Patients whose Registration Status Shows "Withdrawn"1; April 1999 to March 2004

  

NHS board of practice
where patient is
registered
1999-2000
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04


Ayrshire and Arran
312
350
206
189
192


Borders
118
98
148
4,269
7,076


Argyll and Clyde
210
201
147
130
344


Fife
608
441
502
572
862


Greater Glasgow
575
598
753
1,525
496


Highland
285
1,587
4,536
222
218


Lanarkshire
511
425
438
365
718


Grampian
2,518
2,030
2,441
7,517
4,340


Orkney
7
1
1
50
34


Lothian
404
367
350
2,279
2,709


Tayside
335
305
610
1,139
848


Forth Valley
436
253
238
359
319


Western Isles
57
60
54
27
37


Dumfries and Galloway
791
112
590
1,057
826


Shetland
9
13
5
2
2


Scotland
7,176
6,841
11,019
19,702
19,021



  Source: MIDAS (Management Information and Dental Accounting System).

  Note: 1. Based on patients whose registration status indicates "withdrawn" between the dates in question. This occurs when there is a request for the registration record to be withdrawn (made usually by the dentist, and subsequently approved by the NHS board). Patient registrations can be withdrawn for a number of reasons, including the dentist moving to another area, non-payment of charges by the patient or entry into a private arrangement because the dentist has decided to stop treating some or all categories of NHS patients. The numbers also include withdrawals carried out where more than one active registration exists for the same patient, as part of data cleansing. Some patients whose registration has been withdrawn may register with another dentist under NHS arrangements elsewhere.

Direct Payments

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average value is of a direct payment made (a) to parents of children with disabilities and (b) generally.

Rhona Brankin: The information sought is contained in the following table:

  Direct Payments Recipients and Value of Payments, Year to 31 March 2004

  

 
Aged 0-15 Years
All


No. of Clients
Value of Payments (£000)
Average Value (£000)
No. of Clients
Value of Payments (£000)
Average Value (£000)


Scotland
19
73
3.8
912
8,338
9.1



  Source: SEHD annual survey of direct payments.

Drug Misuse

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what sums are allocated to doctors who accept drug addicts onto their practice list.

Mr Andy Kerr: There is no specific allocation made to GP practices for accepting drug addicts on to their practice list.

  Under the terms of the new General Medical Services (GMS) contract, GP practices receive a Global Sum payment as a contribution towards their running costs, including staff costs, in delivering essential and additional services to the patients on their list. This resource allocation is based on the relative needs of the practice population and the associated workload and cost of delivering healthcare to patients.

  NHS boards have also been allocated £34.9 million in 2004-05 for the provision of a range of enhanced services, which includes services to drug misusers. It is for boards to decide how best to provide enhanced services in their area, taking account of local circumstances.

Education

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the achievement of sustainable schools is a priority under the Ambitious, Excellent Schools programme.

Peter Peacock: Our agenda for action set out in Ambitious, Excellent Schools is set in the context of a very significant commitment to investment in the largest Scottish school building programme of modern times.

  Earlier this month we launched a new publication in the School Estate Strategy series entitled Sustainability which specifically focuses on how to achieve sustainable schools. We also encourage schools to adopt a positive attitude to environmental issues through the eco-schools programme.

Efficient Government

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has adopted the guidance from HM Treasury issued in 2003, and reiterated by Sir Peter Gershon, to appoint a professional finance director to each department.

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the professional finance officers in its departments currently meet the criteria for financial directors, as laid out in Sir Peter Gershon’s report, Releasing resources to the front line – Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency .

Mr Tom McCabe: As the First Minister has made clear we have a strong commitment to extending the existing level of professionalism within the Scottish Executive. This includes the finance function, which is unified within the Executive under a Finance Director and already includes a number of professionally qualified staff. With the planned retirement of the current post holder, we will advertise for a suitably qualified Finance Director early in 2005.

Efficient Government

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why £745 million is referred to as the cash-saving target in Building a Better Scotland – Efficient Government, Securing Efficiency, Effectiveness and Productivity , if the target in that document over a three-year period is £1,732 million of savings.

Mr Tom McCabe: On the basis of currently confirmed plans, £745 million is the amount of cash-releasing efficiency savings that will be recurring annually from 2007-08 from a baseline of 2004-05.

  £1,732 million is the amount of cash-releasing efficiency savings that will be made over the three-year period from 2005-06 to 2007-08 on the basis of currently confirmed plans.

Efficient Government

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why the total cash savings identified on pages 20 to 27 of Building a Better Scotland – Efficient Government, Securing Efficiency, Effectiveness and Productivity amount to £627.7 million when "stand alone" savings of £1.7 billion are planned.

Mr Tom McCabe: The cash savings on pages 20-27 do not amount to £627.7 million. The savings shown from portfolios (including procurement savings from health and local government) equal £674.7 million, shown as follows:

  

Portfolio
Page
Savings
(£ million)


Administration
20
8


Communities
20
9


Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
21
3


Education and Young People
22
12


Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
23
5


Environment and Rural Development
24
5


Scottish Water
24
95


Finance and Public Service Reform


  Local Government
24
325


  Central Government
25
0.7


Health
25
166


Justice
26
30


Tourism, Culture and Sport
27
2


Transport
27
14


Total
 
674.7



  The original publication contained an error on page 26, where it stated that the Justice savings would be £28 million. The correct figure, given on page 4, is £30 million. Page 25 of the Efficient Government Plan states that, overall (including the savings from health and local government), the potential savings from procurement amount to £200 million. The outstanding £70 million required to make the total of £745 million will come from additional procurement savings in the Scottish public sector. These figures are the annually recurring cash-releasing efficiency savings from 2007-08. The figure of £1.7 billion refers to the total amount of efficiency savings that will be saved over the three year period 2005-06 to 2007-08.

Efficient Government

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why there are no individual costings for the five areas of reform contributing to the estimate for time-releasing savings of £300 million, as referred to in Building a Better Scotland – Efficient Government, Securing Efficiency, Effectiveness and Productivity .

Mr Tom McCabe: We will publish technical notes on the time-releasing efficiency savings projects by April 2005.

Efficient Government

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it envisages that planned savings, as referred to in Building a Better Scotland – Efficient Government, Securing Efficiency, Effectiveness and Productivity , will be reported to the Parliament.

Mr Tom McCabe: Paragraph 50 of the Efficient Government Plan Building a Better Scotland: Efficient Government – Securing Efficiency, Effectiveness and Productivity states that we will report regularly to the Finance Committee of the Scottish Parliament on the progress we make in delivering efficiency savings. I will write to the Convenor of the Finance Committee in due course to discuss the most appropriate means of reporting progress to the committee.

Efficient Government

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the terms are of the planned review of financial planning systems, as referred to in Building a Better Scotland – Efficient Government, Securing Efficiency, Effectiveness and Productivity .

Mr Tom McCabe: Paragraph 36 of Building a Better Scotland: Efficient Government – Securing Efficiency, Effectiveness and Productivity  states that the Scottish Executive is currently working to develop a new approach to long-term financial modelling and planning to ensure that long-term spending activity is more effectively aligned with corporate priorities. This has considerable potential to achieve more efficient use of public expenditure.

  The terms of the project are to develop a long-term financial planning model for use within the Executive. The intention is to develop a long-term platform to enable consistency of assumptions and scenarios. This will enable better strategic decision making and control within the Executive which will allow targeting of resources to where they will achieve greatest value. The project is at an early planning stage; it will draw on expertise from within the public and private sector in developing the model.

Health

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of stroke victims have access to the drug, alteplase, and what comparative information it has for (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not available centrally.

Hospital-Acquired Infection

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital-acquired infections it estimates are contracted annually and what the estimated annual cost of such infections is to the NHS.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive has made no estimate of the prevalence of health-care acquired infections or their cost. A mandatory national surveillance programme is in place for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus blood infections and its results are reported quarterly at http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/scieh/ .

  Tackling infection remains one of the key priorities set for the NHS by the Scottish Executive.

Justice

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) prosecutions have been pursued and (b) convictions have been secured for offences relating to (i) environmental crime, (ii) breach of the peace and (iii) malicious damage in (1) Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park and (2) Cairngorms National Park.

Cathy Jamieson: Information at this level of detail is not available within the statistics held centrally.

Justice

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ban the sale or use of swords and, if so, what exemptions there will be to any ban.

Cathy Jamieson: The Executive remains deeply concerned about the continuing high incidence of knife crime and its contribution to violent crime. The role of knives and other weapons in homicides and assaults needs urgent and effective action. Accordingly the Executive has been reviewing knife crime law and enforcement, as promised in the Partnership Agreement. The First Minister in his statement on 22 November 2004 set out a programme of measures which we believe will tackle the impact of knife crime across Scotland today. One of the measures in this five-point plan is a proposal to ban the general sale of swords.

  The Executive will be consulting on these proposals early in 2005. We recognise that, in strengthening the law on the sale, ownership and use of swords, exceptions may have to be built into the legislation to cover legitimate aspects on sword use and ownership, for example for sporting or cultural purposes.

Legal Aid

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what definition of hardship is used to decide whether the Scottish Legal Aid Board will meet fees or expect deductions to be made from sums recovered in advice and assistance applications.

Hugh Henry: The board judges each case on its own merits and applies the ordinary meaning of the terms employed. In particular, the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of hardship is "severe suffering or privation". The standard to be met before payment can be made from the Legal Aid Fund in such cases is therefore very high.

Livestock

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will support dairy farmers in obtaining value from bull calves.

Ross Finnie: The Executive has no plans to support dairy farmers to obtain value from bull calves. This is essentially a commercial matter.

Local Government Finance

Kate Maclean (Dundee West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why the minimum grant "floor", which ensures that all local authorities receive a minimum guaranteed increase in AEF in each year, has been set at a lower level this year in comparison to previous years.

Mr Tom McCabe: The grant "floor" is set to provide all councils with a guaranteed minimum year-on-year increase in Aggregate External Finance (AEF). The level of the floor is set with reference to the average annual increase in AEF and provides a safety net to ensure that no council’s AEF falls below the minimum prescribed increase, but also to allow the AEF distribution needs-based formula to take effect for the majority of councils.

  The minimum floor level for 2005-06 was set at 3.4% in the last three year settlement when the average increase which applied at that time was 4.9% and has not been revised as a result of the current settlement. For 2006-07 and 2007-08 the average year on year increases in AEF are 3.3% and 2.3% and the floor has provisionally been set at 2% and 1.75% respectively. The increases in AEF provided for those councils who would otherwise fall below the floor level are offset by reductions in the grants to those councils above the floor, based on their relative share of the total AEF. Setting the floor at a higher level would require other councils to contribute more, and place more councils at the floor level, thereby reducing the impact of the needs-based distribution formula.

Local Government Finance

Kate Maclean (Dundee West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what consultations took place with local authorities prior to the setting of this year's minimum grant "floor", which ensures that all local authorities receive at least a minimum guaranteed increase in AEF each year.

Mr Tom McCabe: The methodology for calculating the minimum grant "floor" is agreed in consultation with COSLA following consideration and recommendations from the official level Three Year Settlement Group whose membership is made up of local authority, COSLA and Scottish Executive representatives. It is for Scottish ministers to set the actual floor level with reference to the year-on-year increase in Aggregate External Finance (AEF). The Local Government Settlement announcement on 8 December 2004 begins a period of consultation and COSLA have been invited to respond to the provisional allocations.

Local Government Finance

Kate Maclean (Dundee West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it expects local authorities with minimum grant increases in AEF to fund existing services and new service improvements without an increase in council tax revenue.

Mr Tom McCabe: The distribution of AEF is based on a needs-based formula. Local authorities with below average increases have therefore been assessed as having reduced expenditure needs compared to those with above average increases. Reduced needs can result from lower population levels, reduced numbers of schoolchildren or a range of other indications, and authorities should adjust their service provision to reflect those reduced needs.

  The outcome of Spending Review 2004 is a robust settlement for local authorities and builds on the large increases provided in previous settlements. This settlement is based on increases in Grant Aided Expenditure which assume council tax increases of 2.5% in 2006-07 and 2007-08. Local authorities have already estimated that council tax levels will increase by around 4.5% in 2005-06, but I have made it clear that I would expect all local authorities to keep council tax increases to reasonable levels.

Local Government Finance

Kate Maclean (Dundee West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the fact that Dundee City Council, Glasgow City Council and West Dunbartonshire Council received a minimum grant increase in AEF this year and have the highest levels of poverty and deprivation in Scotland, what action it is taking to ensure that these local authorities are able to address poverty and deprivation issues.

Mr Tom McCabe: The local government revenue grant is distributed by a needs based system which takes account of a range of factors, particularly population changes. Authorities with declining population will tend to require lower total increases in grant. However, the distribution formula also takes account of the impact of deprivation on the costs of service delivery. There are 16 assessments within the formula, such as those for Social Work and Education, that include deprivation adjustments. In addition, the provision for local authority expenditure through Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) allocations for Education Deprivation amounts to £56.7 million in 2005-06 and allocates £1.6 million, £32.9 million and £1.7 million to Dundee City, Glasgow City and West Dunbartonshire Councils respectively. The total for this GAE rises to £57.8 million in 2006-07 and £59.0 million in 2007-08. In addition to this, a number of important social work assessments are influenced by health indicators which reflect deprivation.

  There are a range of other funds available that address poverty and deprivation including specific programmes such as the £318 million Community Regeneration Fund (2005-08); £20 million Working for Families Fund (2004-06, and £1,207 million for Supporting People (2005-08). The individual allocations to Dundee City, Glasgow City and West Dunbartonshire for each of these funds are shown in the table below:

  

 
Dundee City
(£ million)
Glasgow City
(£ million)
West Dunbartonshire
(£ million)


Community Regeneration Fund 
17.4
124.7
13.4


Working for Families Fund 
2
5
1.2


Supporting People 
35.6
224
46.2



  Local authorities are key delivery partners in addressing poverty and deprivation and we are working together to achieve our Closing the Opportunity Gap targets.

NHS Hospitals

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to develop district general hospitals.

Mr Andy Kerr: Professor David Kerr and his advisory group are currently developing a National Framework for Service Change for NHS Scotland and the future role of district general hospitals will be considered as a part of that work. Professor Kerr’s report is expected in late spring.

NHS Spending

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of any schemes it is considering introducing in order to reduce the NHS drugs bill.

Mr Andy Kerr: NHS Scotland is already working on measures to improve prescribing practice and health officials will be working with the service to finalise in the new year a plan to focus effort to deliver the target efficiency improvement during 2005-06.

NHS Staff

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many radiologists not originally domiciled in Scotland left Scotland on completing their training in each of the last three years.

Mr Andy Kerr: Information on the domicile of doctors in training is currently not held centrally. We are committed to improving information to inform workforce planning and are working through a number of measures on domicile to enable more robust information to be collated and utilised.

NHS Staff

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many radiologists per 100,000 head of population there are in Scotland and what information it has on how this compares with (a) the rest of the United Kingdom and (b) elsewhere in Europe.

Mr Andy Kerr: At 30 September 2003, there were 199.2 whole-time equivalent (WTE) consultant clinical radiologists in NHS Scotland. Using 2003 mid-year population estimates there are 3.9 consultant clinical radiologists per 100,000 population. Comparable figures for the United Kingdom and Europe are not readily available.

NHS Staff

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to improve the recruitment and retention of radiologists.

Mr Andy Kerr: The responsibility for the recruitment of all staff in NHSScotland is managed locally by each of the individual NHS boards across Scotland. However, the Executive is pursing several initiatives on behalf of the health service on a Scotland wide basis which will enable NHS boards to improve their ability to recruit and retain consultant staff in specialties where there is currently a shortage.

  A short-life working group is currently assessing a range of retention initiatives, with particular emphasis on crucial shortage areas that includes radiology.

  This activity is all taking place within a background of Scottish, United Kingdom and, indeed global, shortages in some specialties that includes Radiology.

NHS Staff

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many radiology posts have been (a) created and (b) vacant in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: The number of radiologist posts created is not available centrally. Information on established posts and vacancies in clinical radiology is shown in the following table by NHS board in each of the last three years.

  NHSScotland Workforce Statistics Consultant Clinical Radiologists Establishment by NHS Board

  

 
Establishment
Establishment
Total Vacancies
Total Vacancies


Whole-Time Equivalent at 30 September
Headcount at 30 September
Whole-Time Equivalent at 30 September
Headcount at 30 September


2001
2002
2003
2001
2002
2003
2001
2002
2003
2001
2002
2003


Scotland
209.1
218.2
230.7
220
228
240
19.6
23.8
31.5
20
24
32


NHS Ayrshire and Arran
13.0
15.0
15.0
13
15
15
1.0
4.0
4.0
1
4
4


NHS Borders
3.6
3.0
3.0
4
3
3
-
-
-
-
-
-


NHS Argyll and Clyde
13.7
13.7
16.3
15
15
17
2.0
2.0
3.0
2
2
3


NHS Fife
10.1
7.1
8.9
12
9
10
5.0
4.0
5.0
5
4
5


NHS Greater Glasgow
47.7
54.8
59.8
50
57
62
1.6
5.0
6.0
2
5
6


NHS Highland
6.0
9.8
9.8
6
10
10
-
2.0
2.0
-
2
2


NHS Lanarkshire
21.9
19.6
22.7
24
21
24
3.0
1.0
4.5
3
1
5


NHS Grampian
21.7
19.6
20.6
23
21
22
2.0
-
-
2
-
-


NHS Lothian
37.8
37.0
38.0
40
39
40
2.0
1.8
2.0
2
2
2


NHS Tayside
22.5
23.5
22.5
23
24
23
1.0
-
1.0
1
-
1


NHS Forth Valley
6.0
9.0
8.0
6
9
8
1.0
2.0
1.0
1
2
1


NHS Western Isles
-
1.0
1.0
-
1
1
-
1.0
1.0
-
1
1


NHS Dumfries and Galloway
5.0
5.0
5.0
5
5
5
1.0
1.0
2.0
1
1
2



  Source: ISD Scotland.

NHS Staff

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many radiology training posts there are currently and, of these, how many are vacant, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: Information on the number of clinical radiology training posts in NHS Scotland is collected by NHS Education for Scotland (NES). The data is not available by health board area, however, the national information can be broken down by region and this is shown in the following below.

  Number of Training Posts and Vacancies in Radiology in NHSScotland at December 2004

  

Specialty By Region
National Training Number
Visiting Training Number
Fixed-Term Training Appointment
Vacancies
Total


Radiology
 
 
 
 
 


East
2
8
0
1
11


North 
11
5
0
1
17


South East
27
1
1
0
29


West
38
12
1
4
55


Total
78
26
2
6
112

Non-Domestic Rates

Alasdair Morgan (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage increase will be from 2004-05 to 2005-06 in non-domestic rates paid by businesses whose rateable value increases by the Scottish average.

Mr Tom McCabe: For a subject whose rateable value increases by the Scottish average and whose rateable value is subsequently reduced by the average reduction following appeal (resulting in excess rates being refunded), the net increase in rates bill is forecast to be 2.1%.

Nursing

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure the recruitment and retention of sufficient numbers of breast care nurses to ensure that the needs of patients are met.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Executive remains committed to building the capacity of the workforce of NHSScotland and we remain on track to achieve our Partnership Agreement target of attracting 12,000 nurses and midwives into NHSScotland by 2007.

  Under the banner of Facing the Future, a number of initiatives have been launched, with a focus on improving the recruitment and retention of nursing and midwifery staff across NHSScotland. These include:

  Funding for Return to Practice programmes for nurses and midwives to rejoin NHSScotland;

  Promoting new role development for nurses, sponsorship of clinical leadership programmes as well as Continuing Professional Development (CPD);

  A review of nursing and midwifery workload which has identified a number of recommendations for improved workforce planning as well as to reduce the reliance on agency usage;

  A review of current nursing bank arrangements across NHSScotland;

  Widening the opportunity to access nursing training programmes, and

  An on-line recruitment website for NHSScotland.

Nursing

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider (a) recommending to the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) that it reviews the guidance on the maximum caseloads for breast care nurses as part of its current update of guidance on breast cancer and (b) directing NHS boards to implement the SIGN guidance on maximum caseloads for breast care nurses.

Mr Andy Kerr: SIGN guidelines are produced independently of the Scottish Executive Health Department. Recommendations within SIGN guidelines come about after a rigorous consideration of the clinical evidence.

  All boards are asked to take account of SIGN guidelines when planning their services.

  We are not aware that any good quality clinical information about maximum caseloads for breast care nurses was identified in any of its deliberations.

Nursing

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will support a review and update of the role of clinical nurse specialists in breast care in order to examine the new roles being undertaken by breast care nurses and the support, resources and training needed to undertake these new roles.

Mr Andy Kerr: The requirements for, and the development of, nursing roles is primarily a matter for individual NHS boards.

  The Executive are committed to providing national leadership on workforce design, new roles and new ways of working, and workload across the health workforce. This strand of work is part of the National Workforce Committee agenda.

  In addition, a consultation paper on role development which includes a framework for Developing Nursing Roles has been out for consultation. This draft framework provides principles that underpin nursing roles and states that adequate support, resources and training require to be provided. We are currently reviewing the outcome of this consultation exercise however, NHSScotland is already finding this draft framework useful in helping them plan and organise role development within nursing. This work has been integrated into the work of the National Workforce Committee, Workforce Design sub-committee.

Pharmacies

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any concerns about the development of internet pharmacies in Scotland.

Mr Andy Kerr: No. Internet pharmacies will need to comply with the same legal and professional standards as any other community pharmacy – and will be subject to the same inspection and monitoring regime.

Pharmacists

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what sums are allocated to pharmacists who take part in the prescribing of methadone on their premises.

Mr Andy Kerr: Dispensing methadone to drug misusers has been a locally contracted service since April 1997. Payments in respect of locally negotiated services are funded from NHS boards’ unified budgets.

  The following table shows the value of fees paid to community pharmacists for dispensing and supervised consumption of methadone. The amounts listed include payments made through both the Practioner Services Division of NHS National Services Scotland and NHS boards.

  Value of Fees

  

 
Dispensing Health Board
2002-03
2003-04


Value of Local Supervision and Dispensing Fees (£)
Value of Local Supervision and Dispensing Fees (£)


Argyll and Clyde
 1,152,268.07 
 1,267,822.83 


Ayrshire and Arran
 701,216.74 
 820,819.01 


Borders
 21,365.75 
 17,717.00 


Dumfries and Galloway
 167,235.25 
 243,972.22 


Fife
 322,312.10 
 354,255.25 


Forth Valley
 175,890.95 
 255,514.02 


Grampian
 764,690.57 
 771,495.91 


Greater Glasgow
 3,945,941.53 
 4,502,215.02 


Highland
 216,439.76 
 54,719.28 


Lanarkshire
 746,127.18 
 748,733.81 


Lothian
 1,043,320.43 
 884,057.72 


Orkney
 688.48 
 18.90 


Shetland
 29,475.49 
 7,379.75 


Tayside
 458,672.50 
 622,374.30 


Western Isles
 19.25 
 103.25 


Total
9,745,664.05
10,551,198.27

Police

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions armed response officers have attended incidents in each year since 1999, broken down by police force.

Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the question S2W-9736, answered on 12 August 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Police

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many armed response (a) vehicles and (b) officers there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by police force.

Cathy Jamieson: The following table gives information provided by police forces for the number of police officers authorised to use firearms. Information on the number of armed response vehicles is not held centrally.

  Number of Officers Authorised to use Firearms

  

 
1999-2000
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04


Central Scotland
44
41
49
48
49


Dumfries and Galloway
52
53
50
34
36


Fife
57
53
58
64
67


Grampian
115
104
102
115
119


Lothian and Borders
119
102
114
117
111


Northern
54
63
62
68
66


Strathclyde
200
187
227
248
220


Tayside
60
69
56
56
53



  Source: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.

Police

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it has had to the proposed UK Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill; under what circumstances it is envisaged that the Home Secretary will be able to direct chief constables in Scotland under the terms of the bill, and what representations it has made, or proposes to make, regarding section 25 of the bill.

Cathy Jamieson: We have had substantial input to the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill and that will continue as the bill goes through its Parliamentary Stages in the UK Parliament. As regards clause 25 of the bill, amendments were tabled on 21 December to restrict the provisions in that clause to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A new clause was also tabled to give Scottish ministers equivalent powers to those in clause 25 as regards Scottish police forces and the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency.

Procurement

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance is available to schools and local authorities to enable them to embed the concept of sustainable schools in their procurement programmes.

Peter Peacock: The Schools Estate Strategy Building our Future: Scotland’s School Estate which was published jointly by the Scottish Executive and COSLA in 2002, and many of our subsequent publications in support of that strategy, highlight the importance of sustainability. Specific procurement guidance on sustainability is also available from the Executive’s Scottish Procurement Directorate.

  We ran a workshop at Glencoe last July on sustainability and the school estate, and have just launched a new publication entitled "Sustainability" which not only outlines how to achieve a sustainable school but also offers a number of examples of recent good practice in Scotland.

  Final detailed decisions, though, on the design and specification of new schools remain the responsibility of education authorities.

Quality of Life

Kate Maclean (Dundee West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why funding for its Quality of Life initiative has been cut by £20 million.

Mr Tom McCabe: The continuation of Quality of Life – supported by an additional £100 million over 2006-07 to 2007-08 period – reflects our ongoing commitment to focus on improving the environment and promoting community well-being of communities across Scotland. The Quality of Life fund will continue to allow councils and their partners to be responsive to local needs and to build safer, stronger communities.

  Other additional funding sources are also available for local authorities and other public bodies to support the type of activities with which the Quality of Life fund has historically been involved. For example, £95 million has been committed to tackle anti-social behaviour in 2004-06. The new Community Regeneration Fund being administered by Community Planning Partnerships - £104 million in 2005-06 - contributes to quality of life activities. There is also £24.1 million of funding available in 2005-06 to education authorities for the Hungry for Success initiative used to promote healthy eating and good nutrition in schools.

Scottish Medicines Consortium

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to make the Scottish Medicines Consortium guidance mandatory for all NHS boards.

Mr Andy Kerr: Unique category drugs recommended by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) must be made available uniformly across Scotland. The NHS executive membership on the SMC will agree a national implementation plan for these products. Normally, these drugs should be provided to meet clinical need within three months of publication of the SMC advice. However, this implementation period may be varied if this is necessary, for example, where there is a requirement to establish an audit. All NHS boards will be required to follow the national implementation plan for these drugs. Local NHS boards will agree the implementation plan for drugs where alternative drug treatment already exists.

Sport

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to promote swimming as an activity in its public health strategy.

Rhona Brankin: Scotland has national physical activity targets for adults and children and swimming can make a contribution to daily activity.

  As part of the National Physical Activity Strategy for Scotland, the Scottish Executive has committed £24 million funding to sportscotland to develop Active Schools in Scotland. Active school co-ordinators will build opportunities for school pupils to engage in physical activity including swimming.

  Scottish Swimming features in the Active Schools Training Guide offering a range of courses for potential activity leaders.

  The Scottish Executive is working in partnership with Scottish Swimming, to develop a new resource supporting active lifestyles. The resource, for use at poolside, is directed at target groups that may not be reached by commercial products already on the market. The first phase of the programme targets adults aged 25 to 40.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will promote Edinburgh as a destination following the restructuring of area tourist boards; what funding will be available for Edinburgh as a distinct and specific destination; what input there will be from local government and businesses in the city to any marketing of Edinburgh, and whether it is aware of any other capital city in Europe that does not have a dedicated marketing organisation and, if so, which city.

Patricia Ferguson: The promotion from next year of Edinburgh and the Lothians as a leisure tourism destination will from April 2005 be the responsibility of the VisitScotland network office in Edinburgh, while business tourism in the area will be promoted by the city’s Convention Bureau, being set up jointly by Edinburgh City Council and VisitScotland. In addition, Edinburgh will continue to feature prominently in VisitScotland’s national marketing campaigns.

  Tourism business and local authority involvement in these new marketing arrangements is crucial to their success. VisitScotland’s total budget in 2004-05 for marketing Edinburgh stands at just under £2 million, with a further £668,000 specifically allocated to business tourism promotion of the city. VisitScotland will maintain this level of marketing spend in 2005-06, and in addition, Edinburgh will benefit from VisitScotland’s new city/rural campaign which will equate to a further £2 million of marketing spend. Edinburgh and Lothians business groups will also be able to access the recently announced Challenge Fund of £1 million on top of the above amounts.

Tourism

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on transitional funding for local tourism hubs.

Patricia Ferguson: The current operating budget for all of the Area Tourist Boards taken together shows an expected deficit of just under £2 million in the current financial year. Funding for the VisitScotland network offices next year will come from local authorities, VisitScotland itself, European funds and tourism businesses. Although businesses will no longer pay membership fees, income is expected to be generated from the sale of a range of products and services available across the network.

  The tourism network project team is on target to produce a first draft business plan for the tourism network by 31 December 2004. The initial indications are that, once efficiencies to be gained from network integration are achieved, the tourism network will be sustainable.

Treasure Trove

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when its response to the Review of Treasure Trove Arrangements in Scotland will be published.

Patricia Ferguson: I am pleased to announce that the Executive’s final response, The Reform of Treasure Trove Arrangements in Scotland 2004, will be published on 27 December 2004. Copies will be available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 34702).